Unequal rights

Today, the California Supreme Court ordered the city of San Francisco to halt same-sex weddings immediately. The Court decided not to wait for the lower courts to rule, but instead to immediately to hear arguments on whether Mayor Gavin Newsom has the authority to issue same-sex wedding licenses in the absence of a ruling on whether the law banning such marriages is unconstitutional. The Court will hear these arguments some time in May. In the meantime, the 3700 couples already wed will be left in limbo, as the Court did not say whether or not those marriages already performed were valid. In addition, the Social Security Administration said that they will not "accept any marriage licenses from San Francisco as proof of marriage until the legal dispute was resolved."

The Supreme Court said that they will leave the question of the constitutionality of the state defense of marriage act to the lower courts.

I was expecting the courts to put a stop to the marriages, but this appears to me to be a cop out ruling. I don't understand why the Supreme Court decided not to hear arguments on the constitutionality of the defense of marriage act. I'm almost certain that the court will rule in favor of the anti-marriage rights groups, because the executive branch does not have the authority to judge the constitutionality of a law; only the judicial branch can do that. The best hope for marriage rights for homosexuals lies with the lower courts, and San Francisco's lawsuit saying that denying these rights is unconstitutional.

Robert